Selective call receivers, such as pagers, receive radio frequency (RF) signals. In conventional pagers, the pager decodes optional message data contained in a received RF signal and alerts the user that a message has been received, subsequent to which the message may be stored in a memory. The pager may present the message to the user either automatically or, upon selection by the user, manually. In conventional alphanumeric pagers, icons may be visually presented on a liquid crystal display (LCD) to alert the user of specific conditions. For example, if the voltage of a battery supplying primary power to the pager drops below a predetermined threshold, an icon resembling a battery may be displayed on the LCD. Additionally, a standby information display located in a specific area of the LCD may be used to display message indicator icons to indicate the presence of messages stored in the memory. This feature allows the user to detect the number of messages stored in the memory without reading each message. At any time, the user may choose to read any of the messages stored in the memory by selecting a corresponding message indicator displayed on the standby information display. The message is subsequently displayed on the LCD. Although the user may be aware, by glancing at the message indicators, of the number of messages stored in the memory, he cannot determine whether any of the messages are duplicates without reading each message. Under certain circumstances, this could inconvenience the user. For example, the user may begin to read a lengthy message before realizing that the message is a duplicate of a message that he has previously read, thereby wasting time.
Also, many conventional pagers can store only a limited number of messages in the memory. Once the limited number of messages has been stored, older messages are deleted to provide space in the memory as each new message is received. If a new message is a duplicate of a stored message, the new message may be stored, possibly causing an older message, perhaps of importance to the user, to be deleted from the memory.
Thus, what is needed is a method and apparatus for indicating to the user that a duplicate message has been received, without the disadvantages of treating the duplicate message as a normally received message.